Les Aventures de Goopy et Bagha

In an imaginary kingdom, Goopy the singer and Bagha the drummer are talentless artists who chased away from their native villages. A supernatural being appears and grants them their wishes including their wish to become great artists, and their wish to be able to travel from place to place by means of their magic shoes. Goopy and Bagha arrive in the Kingdom of Shundi whose king is seduced by their music. But the king is under threat : the neighbouring kingdom ruled by his twin brother is preparing to declare war. Will Goody and Bagha, with the aid of their magical powers, be able to avoid disaster ?

A DVD-bookThis film is distributed by the publisher Chandeigne, accompanied by a book “Les aventures de Goopy et Bagha et autres histoires de Bengal”, illustrated by Lydia Gaudin Chakabarty. This book contains three stories written by Satyajit Ray’s grandfather and father as well as by the director himself including the story which inspired this film in 1969.

Adapted from a story by his grandfather, a superb children’s author, as was his father, Stayajit Ray made this film for his son Sandip, aged 8. He not only wrote the text and composed the music, but he also created the décors, the costumes and the make-up. This remarkable musical fantasy is also a satire of power and a denunciation of the absurdity of war.